


got ready for the future to arrive

by saddestboner



Series: Dreamwidth Prompts [7]
Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: 76 Kisses Meme, Don't copy to another site, Drabble, DreamWidth Prompt, Free Agency, Gen, M/M, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-07 01:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18400493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saddestboner/pseuds/saddestboner
Summary: This is it. This is the end of the line.





	got ready for the future to arrive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tobalance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobalance/gifts).



> Written for [](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/tobalance/profile)[**tobalance**](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/tobalance/) for the 76 kisses prompt meme. Uh, happy birthday! I'll write you something happier some other time!
> 
> Title from "Woke Up New," by The Mountain Goats.

They sit together in the silence of the clubhouse, both feeling the weight of words unsaid spreading over them like stars across an impossibly dark sky.

This is it. This is the end of the line.

José feels like he should say something to lighten the mood, but he doesn’t know. James is somber and quiet. José is content to sit by his side and listen to his silence. He can hear his breathing, the slight hitch like he’s gathering himself up, preparing to shatter the quiet.

José waits.

Finally, James mumbles what José hadn’t been able to let himself say: “I’ll miss you.”

“Maybe we play together again sometime,” José says, but he knows it’s a lie.

This is the end. They’ll be scattered like seeds. Maybe José will take root back home in Miami, or someplace warm like Arizona or San Diego, all places in need of shortstops. He doesn’t know what James’s prospects look like.

He feels James’s hand close loosely around his knee. He squeezes but José feels like it’s less to reassure him and more to reassure James himself. He wonders if James thought José would just disappear and leave him to face this uncertainty all alone.

“Maybe,” James says.

José reaches out, haltingly. Presses his hand lightly over James’s.

James turns and before José is entirely sure what he means to do, he feels James’s lips brushing across his forehead in the barest whisper of a kiss.

José closes his eyes, breathes in, breathes out. James’s lips are dry and he still feels the kiss on his forehead even after James pulls away.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The author of this piece intends no insult, slander, or copyright infringement, and is not profiting from this work. This story is a complete work of fiction and does not necessarily reflect on the nature of the individuals featured. This is for entertainment purposes only. **If you found this story while Googling your name or the names of your friends, hit the back button now.**


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